How California’s Bold Stem Cell Initiative Fell Flat
California residents voted to create a $3 billion fund to devote to stem cell research, but they've seen almost nothing for their investment.
Stat:
California Stem Cell Agency Has Funded Just A Trickle Of Clinical Trials
It’s been more than a decade since California launched an unprecedented experiment in medical research by direct democracy, when voters created a $3 billion fund to kick-start the hunt for stem cell therapies. The bold plan, a response to federal funding limits for embryonic stem cell research, was sold with a simple pitch: The money would rapidly yield cures for devastating human diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS. That hasn’t happened. A major reason, a STAT examination found, is that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has been slow to move promising experimental therapies into clinical trials. (Piller, 1/19)